A Good Friend

My best friend is Dave Johnson. We go back some 58 years growing up together in North St. Paul Minnesota. I feel fortunate in having a friend such as Dave. He has had a profound affect on my life both for good and bad, mostly good.

I remember the time we skipped school and went up into the attic of Dave's garage until his parents went to work. After 20 minutes or so the coast was clear and Dave fell out of the attic, breaking his arm in the fall, we later discovered it was Friday the 13th and resolved never to skip school on Friday the 13th again.

I always felt "at home" in the Johnson house. It more then likely stemmed from the fact that my mother, who was of Swiss decent, always had the house, both inside and out, spotless. The Johnson house was lived in and there was a certain sense of freedom there. I specifically remember one time when Dave and I had dates and before leaving, Daves dad Lloyd, slipped me 10 bucks. It was a lot more money back then.

Dave and I "ran away from home" the first time after 9th grade. We hitch hiked and made it to Chicago. We had arranged with another friend Pete Burse, to put a note in the daily newspaper he delivered to our parents. I remember Dave's note ended with "Don't worry about me I have enough Ting to last 2 weeks" Ting was a cream used to control pimples. I remember my note saying "Don't worry about me I just wanted to do this before it's to late and I end up in the military or something." One of the people who picked us up claimed to be Jimmy Hoffa Jr. Said he was on his way back to Chicago after some union business in northern Minnesota. We ended up in a Chicago suburb called Glenview where there was a community of people from Dave's church. The minister shortened our trip somewhat by putting us on a train and sending us back home.

The next year we did it again, this time we made it all the way to Philadelphia. Again we stayed with some people from Dave's church. I don't have a lot of memories about this particular trip, just the monotony of standing alongside the road, thumb extended and the roar of cars going by.

Two years later after graduating from High School, Dave and I bought a BSA motorcycle and headed west. As I recall I had about a hundred dollars in my pocket and Dave had about forty.
We had leather jackets, no helmets, two sleeping bags and we would be gone for three months.
I remember an incident in a Hotel closet in Kansas, I'll spare you the details. The first real rest we got was in Phoenix at Dave's uncle Walts house, after wearing out our welcome there we headed for LA. We stayed at my brothers house in Culver City for a few days before selling the motorcycle on Pico Blvd. to generate some cash. From there we hitch hiked down to Mexico and eventually all along the southern border of the Unitied States to Florida. One incident I recall was standing out in the middle of the dessert hitch hiking when two attractive girls came by in a convertible going in the opposite direction, they stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride, and just like we were reading the script from the dumb and dumber movie, we said, no thanks we are going the other way! We didn't have a schedule to keep, who cares what direction we were going. Like morons we stood there realizing what we had just done.
I also remember seeing the blatant discrimination in the deep south, this was 1961. We ended up in Miami. We got a ride up the east coast from Diamond Jim and we would make it all the way to New York with him. In Philadelphia we stayed with Butch & Marion Wocken, my aunt and uncle. After a few days Butch took us to the Turnpike entrance on his way to work so we could hitch hike home. After work he drove by and saw us still standing there, thumbs out. The next day we did get a ride and made it to the middle of Pennsylvania before running out of money. We called home after 3 months and got enough cash to hitch hike the rest of the way home.

Dave and I entered the US Army on this date back in 1962. We would both end up in Europe for our tour of duty. That's a whole different story.

We continue to be best of friends even though Dave now lives in New Hampshire. We get together almost every year to go fishing up at Myrtle Lake in northern Minnesota. Just a few weeks ago our families spent a week together in Key West Florida. Dave, it's been a blast. Pictured: Dave and Sue Johnson